This was our 2nd Alaska cruise having sailed on the Amsterdam last year from Seattle. I thought the Amsterdam couldn't be beat; I was wrong. Our journey began with a beautiful 11 hour drive from the border crossing in North Idaho, across Canada Highway 3 and the Trans Canada Highway into Vancouver. We were warmly greeted at the Pan Pacific Hotel and I moved our car into the parking garage where we had prepaid for our parking. The Pan Pacific is perfectly located but terribly overpriced. We had reserved a room with a king size bed but were given a room with 2 queen beds. That would have been OK were it not for the rumpled sheets on one bed with a long brown hair on a pillow. As I'm bald and my wife has short hair, it was a pretty safe bet it wasn't ours... Dinner at the hotel was satisfactory but pricey - $5.75 for a glass of plain ice tea was absurd!In the morning a group of held a demonstration against a mining company in the lobby of Canada Place which ended up having all elevators and escalators locked down. We were finally able to get out and to the ship by entering the adjacent office tower and going out to the street and then down to the terminal. By know I had some concerns about our upcoming voyage but fortunately all went well from there on. In fact, Canada Place offers an amenity not available in Seattle...chairs to sit on while waiting to board!The Volendam was lovely! Every member of the crew was friendly and outgoing. We were warmly greeted and felt immediately at home. On the Amsterdam the previous year my only complaint was the food as it was consistently lukewarm and frequently poorly prepared, especially Canaletto, which was awful. The Volendam excelled in every way. All hot dished were served hot. They were flavorful and well presented, Canaletto was excellent!The recent refit appears to be ongoing as there was constant painting and repair going on. Frankly, I'm not sure what was included in the refit...there were a number of open seams in the carpets in the common areas. At the end of the day it really didn't matter; the ship and her crew were wonderful. Ice prevented us from getting all the way up Tracy Arm but it was all so beautiful and Captain Visser did such a nice job that it didn't matter. In Glacier Bay saw several brown bears and witnessed a spectacular calving and numerous smaller ones at the Marjorie Glacier. All in all, I'd recommend this ship and the Inside Passage to anyone and everyone!